♪♪
A public defender is an attorney employed by the community
and responsible for giving legal aid without cost to any person who seeks it
and is financially unable to employ private counsel.
It is his duty to defend those accused of crime until the issue is decided in the court of law.
The first public defender's office in the United States was opened in January 1913.
Over the years, other offices were opened, and today that handful has grown to a network,
a network of lawyers cooperating to protect the rights of our clients.
I'm Bart Matthews, your public defender.
The case you're about to witness is the true one taken from the files of a public defender's office.
A public defender is an attorney employed by your community to give legal aid
to any person financially unable to retain counsel.
Nora Fulton, born Detroit, Michigan.
The charge, murder.
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No, move. Please.
I got you, Gus.
I need money, too. Get it.
I can't.
What about your paycheck?
I gave it to you.
When do you get paid again?
Tuesday.
I can't wait that long.
Why don't you go through your old man's pocket?
Oh, I love you, but I...
No buts.
♪♪
No!
♪♪
No!
No!
Murder!
♪♪
Why did he let me die?
I want to be with Moon.
Of that man you saw, what did he look like?
They wouldn't let me go to his funeral.
Now, the woman across the alley, the one who saw you jump from the window,
she says she didn't see any man.
There was a man.
There was.
I saw him.
I did, I did!
No, no, no, no, don't kill me!
No!
Why didn't they let me die?
Alice Fulton, why did you take one of your father's guns?
Moon needed it.
Why wouldn't they let me go to his funeral?
Three years ago, you promised the probation office that you would never see Moon Franklin again.
If we were married, they would have had to let me go.
Now I...
I'll never see him again.
Of this man you saw, how far did you chase him?
To the beach, under the pier.
I couldn't catch him.
And then?
I started back.
I felt something in my hand.
It was a gun.
I knew how it would look, my coming back with a gun, so...
I threw it away!
Where?
Off the pier, into the ocean!
But they could have proven that that gun didn't fire the murder bullets, didn't you know that?
I only knew that Moon was dead!
And after you got back?
The police were there.
That woman from across the alley.
She said she saw me with the gun.
Oh, Moon.
Moon!
Come back!
Come back!
Come back!
Dr. Elliott, psychiatrist, had examined Nora Fulton after her attempted suicide.
She's still very tense.
Extremely nervous.
What was her condition at the time of the shooting?
She was under abnormal mental stress.
Terrible inner conflict.
Stealing her father's gun.
Buying the uniform to help the dead man commit a crime.
Those things violated her ingrained moral standards.
Would a young girl like Nora take a gun, jump out of a window, and chase a killer?
In her right mind, no.
But that night she was hysterical.
I'm going over to the court now to file an 1871.
How soon can you examine her more fully?
Oh, a week or so.
But part.
You'll only get part of the answer from her.
Trouble like this usually stems from the home.
The Fultons lived in Santa Monica, less than a mile from the beach area where Franklin had been killed.
I blame myself for Nora's trouble.
Why?
I was too old.
When Nora was 15, I was 58.
We never got to be real friends.
And what was Nora's relationship with her father?
George was a policeman for 40 years.
His whole life's been law, rules, discipline.
A young girl doesn't understand that a father can be strict and still love her.
And where is Mr. Fulton now?
Getting dressed for work.
He's a night watchman.
Oh.
Poor man's had a hard time.
First he's retired for disability, and then this.
They retired him from the police? Why?
These last few years, I don't know what happened to him, but it's like he can't control himself.
He flies off the handle, like he did the first time he saw Moon Franklin.
What happened then?
It was just a few years ago.
Nora was still half a child, half a woman.
She never knew what she was doing or where she was going.
When we tried to talk to her, she said we were old-fashioned.
And one night, George followed her.
Well?
Dinner was late.
Then don't eat dinner.
I'm sorry, Mom.
Did you get the money?
It was only $10 left in Betty's pocket.
What about your old lady's sugar bowl?
We went to.
So long, Nora.
Pat.
Go home.
Please, Pat.
Go home, Nora.
What are you going to do?
Get out.
And go home.
Now, what's your name?
That's Nora.
Get out.
For who?
Get out.
Now, we can start over.
What's your name?
Moon Franklin.
You leave Nora alone, do you hear?
That's up to Nora.
What do you do?
What do you live?
Whose car is this?
Look, you're Nora's old man, not the DA.
You answer me.
Well, thanks for throwing the first punch.
Now, whose car is this?
It's my brother's.
Well, let me see the registration papers.
Come on.
You go home.
One way we can find out whose car this is.
Help.
Somebody help.
Help.
And wasn't Nora arrested with Franklin about this time?
Three nights later.
She saw him again so soon.
He said he put the car in reverse by accident.
She'd have believed him if he said the ocean was dry.
Hey, Katie, what did you do with that cleaning stuff?
George, this is Mr. Matthews, the public defender, Nora's lawyer.
How do you do, Mr. Pope?
How do you do, Mr. Matthews?
Won't you sit down?
Thank you.
When did you see our girl?
This morning.
Help her, will you please?
She's a nice girl, a good girl.
Has she remembered anymore?
About what?
About that night.
I thought maybe...
Well...
George, Nora didn't kill Moon Franklin.
You think she did?
I don't know what to think.
You see, I haven't slept good for a month.
I was on homicide for 18 years.
That alibi about a mysterious stranger,
don't you think I want to believe her?
It isn't only what I feel.
It's what I know.
About murder?
About her story.
Now, she says that she chased a man onto a pier,
but she can't tell us if he was tall or dark, if he wore a hat.
Tall or dark?
Well, it wasn't too dark for that woman across the alley to see that Nora had a gun in her hand.
She's a liar.
My own daughter is a liar!
A killer!
George, please!
All right, Katie.
We'll get through some way, Katie.
We'll work it out.
We'll work it out.
It's time for me to go.
More coffee?
No, thanks.
George!
George!
Second time this week.
Eating him up.
If only Moon Franklin hadn't gotten out of prison till after she was married.
Nora was going to be married.
To a nice young man she met at a church supper.
She was so happy.
So she got a phone call from him.
From Moon Franklin.
And who is this other young man?
Bill Putnam.
He can tell you what Nora was like when that Franklin wasn't making her crazy.
Where can I get in touch with him?
At the airport.
Wait, I'll get you the number.
I finally got to the supervisor's office and introduced myself.
What can we do for you?
I'd like to talk to one of your men, Bill Putnam.
Bill Putnam.
Just a minute, please.
Yes.
Putnam, William Putnam.
Job and shift.
Tough to remember everybody, of course.
Yes.
Thanks.
Dry dock number three, come on.
Here's dry dock number three.
Putnam, Bill Putnam, front.
Yeah.
Hi, Bill, it's Mr. Matthews.
You must talk to him.
How do you do, Bill?
Why don't you use my office?
Thanks.
Now look, Mr. Matthews, she didn't kill Moon Franklin.
She should have, but she didn't.
Did you ever meet him?
I didn't want to.
Must have been a pretty bad shock finding out that Nora was still in love with him.
How could she be in love with a guy who was trying to blackmail her?
What?
Did she tell you that?
Well, I found out.
How?
That's my business.
Please, Bill, tell me how you know about the blackmail.
Don't you see, anything you tell me will help Nora.
All right.
I heard Franklin blackmailing Nora.
When?
The night he was killed.
Wait a minute.
If you saw them together that night, then...
Go ahead, say it.
You.
You were the one.
That's right.
I was the guy at the window.
...informed the police of Putnam's confession and then went to see Nora Fulton at the prison hospital.
I feel awfully sorry for Bill.
So do I.
Thank heavens I was wrong about Potts.
What?
That night, near Moon's place, I stopped to freshen my lipstick and I thought I saw Potts in the mirror.
Following him?
When I turned around, there wasn't anybody there.
Well, it's all over now.
You'll be released as soon as the police notify the district attorney.
Thank you, Mr. Matthews.
Thank you very much.
Potts!
Hello, girl.
Your office told me you were here.
What is it, Potts? Is Mom okay?
Yeah.
Ever since you told me about Bill, I've been walking the streets.
I didn't go to work last night.
I've been walking and thinking.
I can't let that boy do it.
I can't let him throw his life away.
Potts!
What are you trying to say?
Well, it wouldn't be right that way.
That boy didn't kill Moon Franklin.
He didn't?
Well, he couldn't have killed him.
Franklin was killed at half past seven.
Bill works from noon till eight.
I'm glad that's all you had to tell us.
But before I went to the police, I checked Bill Putnam's confession.
He didn't work the night of the murder.
Telephone for me?
Excuse me.
Hello?
Mr. Matthews?
Yes, he's here.
Just a minute.
You.
Police.
Thank you.
Matthews?
Oh, yes, Charlie.
Aren't you sure?
Well, when?
Well, how do you know?
Oh.
Uh-huh.
Okay, Charlie.
Yeah.
Thanks, Charlie.
Well, they've just released Bill Putnam.
Released him?
Yeah, the police checked his story, too.
Before the killing, Bill was getting a traffic ticket on the Pasadena freeway.
But haven't you heard from Mr. Matthews yet?
This is Bill Putnam again.
All right, please have him call me as soon as he can.
Thank you.
Come in.
I've been calling you since I got home.
Where's Mr. Putnam?
I don't know.
I've got to talk to him.
About what?
This whole business.
Look, Mr. Matthews, I didn't confess because I want to go to the gas chamber.
Why did you confess?
Well, so Nora could get out and find out how much her father knew.
Now, look, I'm not saying he killed Franklin.
I don't know who did.
I only know that, well, the night when Franklin got killed was my night off.
So I found out.
Four o'clock that afternoon, the doorbell rang.
Come in.
Oh, what's all that?
Hey, Mr. Putnam, I was expecting a friend of mine, a guy who was in the Navy with me.
He showed me how to make these things.
They're not too tough.
You've got all this junk to start with.
You better get all that out of your system before you get married.
Bill, I want to talk to you.
Okay.
I'm, um, I'm sure that you know how much Kitty and I think of you.
And I know how much fun it is for you and Nora to be together.
But she's got to get up at 7 o'clock in the morning to get to work,
and you've been bringing her home three nights in a row now at 430.
I haven't seen Nora in over two weeks.
An old friend of hers is back in town, from San Quentin.
Moon Franklin.
What are you doing about him?
Nothing.
I thought you said you loved Nora.
I do, but...
Well, then go get her back.
Fight for her.
Don't, don't just sit around here and play with kids' toys.
This is a jungle boy.
You've got to fight for what you want.
Look, I want to marry Nora, but she's got to want the same things.
Never mind what she wants.
You're the man.
You make the decisions.
If you've got something and somebody wants it, tries to get it,
well, you fight them, and you punch them.
You're a kid.
Hey, take it easy, Mr. Fulton.
Nora's home now, getting dressed fancy.
Must be going to meet Franklin again.
So that's what happened.
What should I do?
Should I go to the cops?
No, not yet.
Let me do some checking.
I'll call you later.
You answer with the first word you think of.
Father.
Mother.
Black.
White.
Blood.
Red.
Murder.
Jail.
Gun.
Please, doctor, do you have to use those words?
No, but they may help us.
Could we stop now?
I have an awful headache.
Surely.
The matron will take you back downstairs.
Thank you.
Hello, Nora.
Hello, Mr. Matthews.
I have an awful headache.
I'm going downstairs.
She's improving, but she still needs help.
I came here to talk about her father.
Tell me, do you think he could have killed Franklin and forgotten about it?
Not unless he's suffering from a condition we call epileptic fugue.
What's that?
A condition where people do forget things,
but only things normal to their everyday life.
You might forget a day in court.
I might forget a patient.
Well, Nora's father used to be a policeman.
Now he's a night watchman.
Oh?
He carry a gun?
Yes.
Then for him, shooting would be normal.
Tell me, has he had many other lapses of memory?
Well, I did see him forget his gun one day.
Mr. Fulton had fits of rage where he loses control of his temper,
almost loses control of himself.
He was retired from the police because of his temper.
Well, Fulton definitely sounds like he could be suffering from epileptic fugue.
Now if something happened that night to drive him into a frantic rage,
he might have killed Franklin and not remember it.
How do you make him remember?
Well, he'll never recall it the way we remember things,
in sequence, as they happen.
Oh.
Now, the best you can hope for is to jar some of the pieces back into place.
How?
By some deep, terrible shock that would enrage him,
that would bring his temper to a boil.
Do you have any ideas?
Well, this isn't it, but if it were possible, this might work.
If he were to see the dead man,
it would have to involve someone he loves or hates very much.
Mind if I use your telephone?
Of course not.
Bill Putnam, Nora's boyfriend, might be able to help.
Hello, Bill, Matthew.
I need a target.
Yeah, that's right, something to shoot at.
Now, you're about Moon Franklin's size.
Do you still have that old sailor's uniform?
Yeah, we'll need that too.
Oh, and one more thing.
If I show you a picture of Moon Franklin, how fast can you make a mask of his face?
Fine, I'll be over there in about half an hour.
Yeah, thanks.
Now, that's perfect, Bill, perfect.
Now, if you'll take this uniform and the mask over to Moon Franklin's old apartment,
I'll call George Fulton.
Yes, sir.
You say you had somebody you wanted me to meet here.
Yeah, that's right.
Do you remember following Nora one night a couple of years ago when she met Franklin in an alley?
Yeah, sure, why?
Well, do you remember following her any other time?
You ask me a direct question, I'll give you a direct answer.
Did you follow Nora to Franklin's place the night of the murder?
Are you crazy?
Do you want to know if I killed that dirty loaf and let my own daughter go to jail for it?
Is that what you ask of me?
What kind of a man do you think I am anyway?
We'll wait inside.
Nora, Nora, stop it!
Nora, Nora!
Nora, stop it!
Stop it!
Nora!
Nora!
Nora!
Stop it!
Nora!
Nora, forgive me!
Forgive me!
A panel of psychiatrists appointed by the court agreed that George Fulton was temporarily insane at the time of the killing.
He was therefore confined to an institution for mental therapy.
Bill Putnam and Nora Fulton, incidentally, just celebrated their second wedding anniversary.
The case you have just seen was brought to a fair and just conclusion through the efforts of a public defender.
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